Rack for trousers



NOV. 28, B 5 WEST ET L I RACK FOR TROUSERS Filed June 23, 1952 Patented Nov. 28, 1933 UNITED STATES RACK FOR TROUSERS Brennan B.

West and John E. Bevington,

Cleveland, Ohio Application June 23, 1932. Serial No. 618,914

9 Claims.

This invention relates, generally, to the class v of garment hangers, and it has to do particularly with a rack for supporting trousers.

The primary purpose of the invention is the production of a rack in which a number of pairs of trousers may be supported in such a way as to preserve their shape, and separately from one another, yet in a compact fashion and very close to a wall or other object to which the rack is attached, excepting at such times as it is desired to remove trousers from the rack or insert them into the same; and to the end that this may be accomplished in an especially convenient manner and without mussing, or disturbing to any appreciable extent, other trousers in the rack, an individual holder is provided for each pair which, with the other holders, is movably sustained by a suitable support, such as a wall attachment, so that the several holders may 20 be turned, or according to the present preferred form of the invention, spread out and separated to render each readily accessible, as by disposing it apart from the others.

Further objects are to provide a neat and attractive device of the foregoing nature that is strong and durable; that is relatively simple of construction and economical of manufacture; that, preferably, can be partly disassembled for packing purposes to permit use of a smaller carton or so that it can be accommodated in less space than otherwise; that is so constructed that upon being reassembled by inexperienced persons proper action is assured; that is so designed as to permit of its reversal to adapt it to different wall arrangements, and whose individual holders are of such a character that the possibility of their marking the trousers by contact therewith is minimized.

Other objects and advantages will appear, as this description proceeds, during the course of which reference will be made to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof and wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the trouser rack, showing it attached to a wall or the like; Fig. 2 is an end elevationtaken as though looking from the left of Fig. 1 and showing parts in section to reveal certain structural details; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the rack, with parts broken away; Figs. 4 and 5 are views of the rack on a scale considerably reduced from that of the preceding figures and showing it, respectively, in normal position 55 and in a position to which it may be adjusted,

to facilitate the removal of a pair of trousers from one of the holders or their insertion into the same, and Figs. 6 and '7 show modified forms of holders.

The rack comprises three major elements, to do wit: a wall attachment or support, designated generally by the reference character A; an arm or member B that is pivotally connected to the wall attachment or support, and a plurality of individual trouser holders, designated C, that are 05 swingably connected to the arm or member 3.

According to the present preferred embodiment of the invention, the wall attachment or support A consists of two anglebrackets a whose base flanges a are adapted to be secured to a wall or other support by screws (1 The brackets a are arranged with their horizontal flanges a spaced apart and parallel with each other to receive between them the inner end of the arm B.

This arm B is made up of top and bottom plates b that are secured together by fastening means or rivets b and are spaced apart by bushings b that surround the rivets and bear at their ends upon the opposed plates b. At the inner end of the arm ormember B there is a bush- B0 ing 12 whose ends are desirably slightly reduced in diameter and extended through apertures in the plates 22 so that the extremities of said bushing protrude slightly beyond the outer surfaces of said plates. A bolt a extends through holes in the horizontal flanges a of the brackets a and through the bushing 12 thus pivotally connecting the arm or member B to the support or wall attachment A. A look washer and nut, a and a, respectively, are applied to the threaded end of the bolt a As at present preferred, each holder for a pair of trousers is formed from a single fiat strip of metal or so called fiat wirea stock rolled down from one originally having a circular cross section-to produce a unit having somewhat the appearance of a pair of tweezers with opposed side branches 0' that rather abruptly converge at their inner ends, as at c and then continue in contact with each other to form a neck 0 which joins an eye 0 that encircles one of the bushings 12 -22 of the arm or member B. outwardly beyond the parts 0 the branches 0' gradually converge, when in relaxed condition, until they close- 1y approach each other or touch near their outer ends, which ends flare outwardly, as indicated at 0 This outward flaring of the ends is obviously for the purpose of facilitating the insertion of a pair of trousers between the branches of the holder; and at this point it may be explained that the trousers are suspended from the rack-in inverted position with the hems or cuifs of the trouser legs immediately above the holder; and because of the relatively wide surface contact of the opposed branches of the holder with the material of the garment, and the cross-sectional shape of the branches with their rounded edges, there is little likelihood of the holders marking the trousers.

The material of which the holders 0 are formed is quite resilient and there is little or no danger of the holders becoming deformed through long continued use. To lessen the possibility of this happening the opposite sides of the holder may be connected together in the region of the neck 0 as by Welding, or as by means of a rivet 0 as shown in Fig. 6; or the holder may be made of two identical halves, as shown in Fig. 7, that are secured together at the neck 0 by rivets 0 the inner end of each half being provided with a semicylindrical portion 0 which portions cooperate to form the eye 0 The fact that the bushing b is slightly greater in length than the distance between the outside surfaces of the plates b of the arm or member B, and the further fact that said plates are pivoted on the reduced ends of said bushing, insure free swinging movement of the arm or member. It may also be pointed out that the length of the bushing b is greater than the width of the strips of material of which the holders 0 are formed so that free swinging movement of the holders is assured.

By making the brackets a removable from the arm B, the rack may bedisassembled to this extent for packing purposes. This enables a much smaller carton to be used for packing the device than would otherwise be the case. Inasmuch as the rack is the same on top and bottom, it may be turned over orinverted so as to swing to normal position either right or left of the wall attachment or support A. It may thus be readily adapted to different wall arrangements and, if necessary, mounted quite close to eithera right or left hand side wall with respect tothe wall to which it is attached.

The manner of using the rack is quite evident from Figs. 4 and 5. When it is desired to place a pair of trousers in one of the holders, or remove them therefrom, the arm B may be swung to the side and the holders spread out, as indicated in Fig. 5, under which conditionsthe trousers in hand may be easily manipulated without interfering with, or the slightest interference from, the other trousers in the rack. After this operation, the rack may be readily swung to the position shown in Fig. 4, and here attention is called to the fact that, in this position, the pairs of trousers overlap one another slightly so that at a glance the user may see what trousers are in the rack and readily select any pair.

We claim:

1. A rack for trousers comprising a support, a vertically disposed pivot sustained thereby, a member swingable on said pivot, and a plurality of holders for trousers individually pivoted to said member on vertical axes, one of said holders having its pivotal axis coincident with that of the aforesaid pivot.

2. A rack for trousers comprising an arm, a plurality of ho ders for trousers individually pivoted to said arm on axes spaced apart longitudinally of the arm, and a support to which the arm is pivoted on the pivotal axis of one of said holders.

3. A rack for trousers comprising an arm hav-.

ing pivot members spaced apart longitudinally thereof, a plurality of holders for trousers each of which is swingably supported by one of said pivot members, one of said pivot members having a bore, a support, and a pivot sustained thereby which occupies the bore of the last mentioned pivot member.

4. A rack for trousers comprising an arm that is made up of top and bottom plates having axially aligned apertures adjacent one of their ends, a bushing having its opposite ends extending through the apertures of the opposed plates, a support comprising vertically spaced brackets between which said bushing is adapted to be disposed and having holes registering with the bore thereof, a pivot member extending through the holes of said brackets and through said bore, and a plurality of holders for trousers individually pivoted to the arm on axes spaced apart longitudinally thereof.

5. A rack for trousers comprising an arm made up of a pair of plates, bushings disposed between the plates and spaced apart longitudinally of the arm, fastening means extending through the bushings and securing the plates together, the opposed plates having axially aligned apertures adjacent one end of the arm, a bushing having its opposite ends extended through said apertures, a support comprising spaced flanges between which the last mentioned bushing is adapted to be engaged, said flanges having holes registering with the bore of said bushing, a pivot member extending through said holes and bushing, and a trousers holder swingably mounted on each bushing.

6. A rack for trousers comprising an arm made up of a pair of plates, bushings disposed between the plates and spaced apart longitudinally thereof, fastening means extending through the bushings for securing the plates together, the opposed plates having aligned apertures adjacent one end of the arm, a bushing having its opposite end extending through said apertures and protruding slightly beyond the outer surfaces of said plates, brackets between which the last mentioned bushing is engaged, said brackets having holes registering with the bore of said bushing, a bolt extending through said hole and bushing for drawing the parts together, and a plurality of holders for trousers each having an eye at one end engaged about one of the bushings thereby to pivotally connect the holders to the arm so that they are capable of swinging independently of one another.

7. A rack for trousers comprising a support, an arm swingably connected thereto, pivot members spaced apart longitudinally of the arm and inwardly a substantial distance from the edge thereof, and holders for trousers corresponding in number to said -pivot members, each formed of a flat strip of metal bent back upon itself and fashioned to produce an eye at one end for engagement with one of the pivot members and adjacent which eye the opposed branches are brought together into engagement with one another for a distance outwardly beyond the edge of the arm, said branches rather abruptly diverging therebeyond for a short distance and then gradually converging and having their ends flared outwardly.

8. A rack for trousers comprising an arm that is made up of top and bottom plates having axially aligned apertures adjacent one of their ends, a pivot member having its opposite ends extending through the apertures of the opposed plates, a

tom plates are connected together, and holders for trousers corresponding in number to said pivot members and each consisting of a strap metal unit fashioned at one end to provide an eye for engagement with one of said pivot members and having opposed branches between which a pair of trousers is adapted to be grasped.

BRENNAN B. WEST. JOHN E. BEVINGTON. 

